Dean C. Alexander

The threats of violence and violence against political candidates, elected officials, election workers and voters is harmful to the democratic process and to election security.

Mobilized-inclined extremists or fringe actors using trucks to block roadways and bridges as a grievance tool may launch vehicle-borne attacks — explosive-laden or otherwise — on a convoy’s target. Learn more about this security risk. 

Parliaments, often subject to arson, gunfire, bombings, domestic terrorists, and mobs, are under attack. Recent events, such as the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, underscore the urgency to recalibrate security measures around legislatures worldwide.

Law enforcement agencies are somewhat overcoming the pandemic through enhanced vigor, particularly as measured by interactions with the public, heightened officers’ onboarding, and expanded staff training.

As the gravity of COVID-19 was recognized and expanded in the United States, Niyazi Ekici and Dean C. Alexander, professors at Western Illinois University’s School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration, commenced a research project to gauge the impact of the pandemic on law enforcement agencies. Here's what they found. 

The pandemic has magnified an already fragile psyche among some Americans, whose tendency for violence occurs, incredibly, at the smallest slight. It is likely our nation’s enduring illness of resorting to violence remains with its appending deadly toll even once the health risks from COVID-19 decline.

Some 200 individuals have been charged with federal offenses connected to the siege at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Among them are at least 15 examples of family affiliated extremism. These instances include: five sets of husbands and wives; two cases of fathers and sons, mothers and sons, brothers, and cousins; and an instance of father/daughter and brother/sister participation. Although of a different strain and less serious offenses—none specifically terrorism nor involving murder —such kin-connected radicalism is neither a new phenomenon nor one unique to the United States or elsewhere. 

This article discusses extremism in the United States as we close out 2020 and look to 2021. Security professionals can educate themselves on what extremist groups are out there and where the risks lie.